What you read on Nunatsiaqonline.ca from May 8 to May 15

Stabbings of woman, three children top story of the week

NUNATSIAQ NEWS

Our top photo of the week on our Nunatsiaq News Facebook page, based on views, likes and shares: Standing tall and proud — Nunavik adult eduation students from the past two years in Kuujjuaq pose for a photo at the Kuujjuaq Inn during their graduation ceremony May 4. Students graduated from a number of programs including heavy equipment operator, auto mechanics and accounting as well as upgrading in English and French. (PHOTO BY ISABELLE DUBOIS)

Our second most-popular photo this past week on the Nunatsiaq News Facebook page: The Winnipeg Art Gallery is showcasing the first retrospective exhibition of the late Cape Dorset artist Oviloo Tunnillie, which opens later this month. The exhibit, called A Woman’s Story in Stone, features 67 of Tunnillie’s sculptures from private and public collections across Canada and the United States. Tunnillie, one of few female Inuit carvers to achieve international success, started her career crafting wildlife, but her work gradually began to reflect social issues. She died in 2014. A Woman in Stone runs from May 21 to September 11. (PHOTO COURTESY OF WAG)

For most Nunatsiaqonline.ca readers, there was only one big story to follow this past week: a terrible incident in the Kivalliq community of Coral Harbour May 12 that left one child dead and the child’s mother and two siblings under treatment for multiple stab wounds in Winnipeg.

All three remain in hospital in stable condition, although two of them are in critical condition, Nunavut RCMP said May 14.

Sources close to the community said the deceased child, a girl, a Grade 1 student, died at the nursing station in Coral Harbour, which has a population of about 1,000 people.

Sources told Nunatsiaq News that May 12 appeared to unfold normally until the woman’s husband went out to get a snowmobile part from a neighbour.

When he returned, he discovered the terrible scene.

Police continue to investigate the events of May 12. No arrests have been made yet, but the RCMP said May 14 that “we want to remind the community of Coral Harbour that there is no threat to public safety at this time.

You can read the story, now the most-read story of 2016 on Nunatsiaqonline.ca here:

The second-most-read story of the week, according to Google Analytics which tracks readers on our website, was the final chapter in the story of the defeated Nunavut air service, Go Sarvaq, which went down swinging as its president lashed out at Inuit birthright corporations.

“While we were not able to launch our service in the way we intended, we did bring greatly reduced airfares to this market — a big plus for Nunavummiut who want to travel south this summer,” Go Sarvaq President Adamie Itorcheak said May 9.

The three other stories in the past week’s top five on Nunatsiaqonline.ca:

• the Nunavut RCMP has laid charges against one of its own: The RCMP said May 12 that the force has charged Pond Inlet-based Sgt. Paul Marenchuk with two counts of assault with a weapon. The charges are in connection to two incidents which are alleged to have taken place in August and September 2015.

• Nunavut police have detained an axe-wielding Baker Lake man, while an assault victim was flown to Winnipeg with non life-threatening injuries: The RCMP responded to reports of a disturbance outside a local business in the Kivalliq community May 4, when a man, 26, was reported to be carrying an axe. Police would not offer details of the alleged assault, but said that a 56-year-old victim was flown to Winnipeg to be treated for non-life threatening injuries. Police did not say if the victim was male or female.